A Wanderer
Posted on | October 27, 2008 | Comments Off
I don’t know if I would have chosen that title before this year for Chris or not. But I have been watching a BBC series, first presented in 1978, Connections. And one of James Burke’s stories in an early segment was about the Ptolemaic structure of the cosmos. With an outer crystal sphere where the stars were. And planetes (Gr. for wanderers) between the heavens and earth. How very poetic and descriptive of long distance hikers and especially Suge. His Pacific Northwest Trail journey was just that.
I have been trying to remember what it was that first made me want to continue to read Suge’s journal of his 2003 hike of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). I read a bit of every journal I could find, and continued reading only a few. I think the first clue was reading, “. . . feeling of freedom and joy . . .”, which let me know that here was someone who was aware of joy and could write about it.
After reading some magic number of journal entries from one hiker, I am hooked. The simple adventure is engrossing enough. But Suge’s (Chris Willett is his name in the other world.) journal had more pull than that. A mix of wonder and confidence. The link to his PCT journal will take you to a site where he has recorded other hikes and mountaineering adventures. Humble suggestion: read the journals in chronological order. Watch the growth: in maturity, writing style, and photographic skill.
Suge’s Continental Divide trek in 2005 has some great photographs and entries. One which evokes many shared experiences for me is this picture, accompanied by the following lines:
“Tiring, I came off a minor ridge and ran straight into a trail. My trail. There wasn’t much of it, but trail it was. I was happier than I had been all day and gave a war whoop to celebrate. There was a pleasant creek close by and I found just enough mostly flat, dry ground, out of the way of widowmakers, to pitch my tarp on.”
That wet, cold, muddy trail. It gave him joy.
Walk well. God is love.
